Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-06-19

7. y AA4~ VIZ -"t+ ti41I A4N kept |Ht
faith They had denied themselves and
a straighkly down the path Of daty.
But the compacfsof life end with life. No
man may bargain for the beyond. Even
the marriage service shrinksf from il And
now that hope had gone and life was st its
EXTREMIST ebb, why should they not take
their happiness before they passed to the
land where, perchaDce, all things will be
forgotten. So it seemed to them; If In
deed they were any longer capable Of
reason.
He looked into her eyes and she laid her
bead upon his heart in that mute aban-
donment of worship which is sometimes to
be met with in this world, and is re-
deemed from vulgar passion by an indefin-
able quality of its own. He looked into
her eyes and was glad to have lived, ay,
even to have reached this hour of death.
And she, lost in the depths of her own ma
ture, sObbed ont her passion-laden heart
upon his breast, and called him her own,
her own, her very own!
And so the long hours passed, till at last
a new born freshness in the air told them
that they were not far from dawn. The
death they were waiting for had not yet
come. 1t must now be very near at hand.
John" she whispered in his ear, ''do
you think that they viii shoot us?'
yes" he said, hOarsely; ''they must
for their WI safety"
81 wish il were over,n she said.
Suddenly she started back from his arms
with a little cry, causing the cart to rock
violently.
81 forgot" she said-"You can swim,
though Icannot. Why cannot you swim
TO the bank and get OFF under cover of the
darkness. 1t is not more than fifty yards,
and the current is not so very swift?"
The idea Of escaping without jess had
never occurred to him, and now that she
suggested it, it struck him as so absurd
that he actually broke into a ghost Of a
laugh.
Don't talk nonsense, Jess" he said.
''Yes, yes, / will. Go! You must gol
1t does not matter about me now / know
you love me and 1 al die happy, l will
wait for you. Oh, John! wherever l am,
if l have any life and any remembrance, l
will wait for you. Never forget that all
your life. However far / may seem away,
if l live at all, l shall be waiting for you.
And now go; you shall go, ! say! No, |
will not be disobeyed. If you will not go
/ will throw myself into the water. Oh,
the Cart is turning Overt"
"Hold on for Gods sakep' shouted John
''The traces have broken"
He was right; the tough leather was at
length worn through by the constant rub
bling against the rock and the strain and
swaying ofthe cart on the one side and the
dead horses on the other. Round il spun,
broadside on the current, and Immediately
began to heave over till at last the angle
was so sharp that the dead body of poor
Mouti slid out with a splash and vanished
into the darkness. This relieved the cart,
and it righten for q moment, but no longer
held up By the bodies of the horses, or by
the sustaining power ofthe wind, it began
TO fill and sink, and at the same time to
revolve round and round. John realized
that it was all up, and that to stop in the
cart would only mean certain death, be-
cause they would be held under water by
the canvas tent. So witha devout aspira-
ton for assistance he seized Jess
round thel waist with n arm and
sprang off into the water. As he did so
the cart filled and sank.
Lie still for Heavens saker' he shout
ed. as they rose to the surface.
In the dim light of the dawn, which was
low creeping over the earth, he could
make out the line of.the Lett bank Of the
Vaal, the SAM from which .hey h d start
ed into the river on the previous night. 1t
appeared to be about forty yards away,
but the current was running about six
knots, and he realized that, burdened as
he was, it would be quite impracticable
for him to try and reach it. The only
thing to do was to keep afioat. Luckily
the water was warm and he was q atrong
swimmer. In a minute or so he made out
that about fifty PAGES ahead some rocks
jutted out twenty yards into the bed of the
stream. Then, catching Jess by the hair
withhis lefthand, he made his effort, and o
desperate one il was. The broken water
boiled ~furiOusly round the rocks. Present
ly he was in it, and, better still, his feet
touched the ground. Next second he vas
swept off them and rolled over and over at
the bottom of the river, getting sadly
knocked about against the powders. Some
how he struggled to his legs, still retaining
his hold of Jess. Twice he fell, and twice
he struggled up again. One more effort
so The water was only up to his thighs
low, and he was obliged to half carry his
companion. As ne lifted her be ftt a
deadly sickness come over him, but still
he struggled on like a man, till at las they
both fell of a heap upon a big fiat rock, and
for a while he remembered no more.
When he came to himself again il was
to find Jess, who had recovered sooner than
he had, standing over him and chatting his
hands. Indeed, as he sun was up, he
guessed that he must have lost his senses
for some time. He rose with some diff
Guilty and shook himself. Except for
some bruises he was sound enough.
care you hurt?" be asked of jess, who,
pale and faint and bruised, her hat gone,
her dress torn by bullets and the rocks,
and, dripping water at every step, looked
an exceedingly forlOrn object.
"No'r she said, feebly mot very much. "
He sat down on the rock in the sun, for
they were both shivering with cold.
what is to be done?" he asked.
DIE she Salu neTceisj nneahs W
die-why did you not let met die? Ours
is a position that only death can set
straight"
"Don't be alarmed" he said, "your de-
sire will soon he gratifed; those murder
ing villains will hunt US up presently"
The bed and banks of the river were
clothed with thin layers of mist, but as the
sun gathered power these lifted. The spot
where they had gone ashore was about 800
wards below that where the two Beers and
their horses had been destroyed by the
lightning on the previous night. Seeing
the mist lift, John insisted upon jess
crouching with him behind a rock, so that
they could look up and down the rive
without being seen themselves. Presently
he made out the forms Of two horses graz
ing about 200 yards away.
FAh," he said, 81 thought so; the devil!
have off saddled there. Thank heaven.
have still got my revolver and The cartridges
are water tight. / mean to sell ou i've
as dearly as / can
"Why, john" cried jess, following the
line of his outstretched hand, those are
not the Beers horses; they are our two
leaders that broke loose in the water.
Ill. oollors ara gfilI on ~